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A greater number of Canadians feel that the economy is getting worse than last year. Now 20% up from 14% last year feel this way.

Some of the top concerns of Canadians are having enough money to retire, and improving personal finance. They feel that the Canadian economy maybe getting a little bit better by the government reports but at home things are getting worse, goods are more expensive (inflation), jobs are hard to find and people are still being laid off. So to the average Canadian, their personal finance situation really don’t feel any better.

The U.S puts out reports that the recession ended last year sometime, and the Federal Reserve say that they are going to do more “Quantitative Easing” to further stimulate the economy. The stock market responds by sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average well over 11,000. All this in my personal opinion is hog wash, it is just more U.S Government propaganda to make things seem a lot better than they are.

If there is anything the credit crisis over the last few years has taught us is that debt is bad, despite what financial companie’s try to tell you.  The other thing is that everyone has to really watch their spending.  Part of the monitoring of spending is those little things that you buy, like coffee, latte or a bottle of water here and there.If the economy continues the way it has been for another few years, you will most likely be forced to change your habits, especially if you are in heavy debt, you have no savings or if you are in a job that is at risk of layoffs.

1. Create A Balance Sheet

Begin and look at your net worth by collecting your most recent investment statements and going online to retrieve your current account balances.

Once you’ve documented your assets and subtract your liabilities, consider the following questions:

• Does any one financial asset consume a disproportionate share of your net worth?
• Are your assets properly insured?

Interesting how jobs are being loss at record pace which means people do not have money to spend or live, but when you watch certain U.S and Canadian government reports…they try to paint a rosy picture.

This news is a few months old but here goes. The last time the Russians offered Apple clones was back in the days of the Soviet Union.

Despite Apple CEO Steve Jobs complaints, RUSSIANS have started churning out cloned Mac PCs.  Apple has failed to gain any ground in Russia because the operating system and hardware are just too expensive for everyday Russians to afford.  They don’t see the point of not eating for a year just to buy computer, when they have figured out how to clone them for 50% less or more.

The economy is in bad shape now and layoffs keep rising, now millions of families must take steps to sort out the household balance sheet by cutting as much expenses as they can. What bugeting does is help you identify what you are spending and where to decide how to cut back.

As defined by Wikipedia:

Affluenza, - painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.

and

Affluenza - 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses.
2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream.
3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.

The Affluenza Theory

Dave Brook is not a scrooge, but while visiting his friend in another town last week he sure felt like one. The 43-year-old sales manager didn’t like the idea of dining at a fancy steakhouse, where a sirloin can set you back $40. Instead, Brook suggested a less expensive place to his friend. After the dinner there was a feeling of awkwardness between Dave and his friend.

With the way the economy is right now, and the job market so uncertain I think a lot of people are holding off on making big ticket items. As for myself, there are two products I specifically want to purchase…a 42 inch LCD TV and a computer for my Hackintosh project, but will wait until the company I work for make its decisions on laying off more people…so there is no sense in buying a large screen LCD TV to find out later, the company is letting go employees, that would just not be financially prudent. Even if my company doesn’t let me go, I think I may still hold off until Christmas or early next year to make my big ticket purchases.